Random Robot Roundup

Purdue University received a $6 million grant to develop an autonomous agricultural robot capable of pruning grape vineyards and apple orchards. Let's hope the Purdue robot puts up a fence around the orchard to keep out the Robo-squirrels being developed at the University of California. UC is also advancing the state of the art in split-brain research. Other brain research this week includes an MIT study of what actually happens when the brain passes from consciousness to unconsciousness. A better understanding of the human brain may help researchers finally get artificial intelligence right - Noam Chomsky says they've been getting it wrong all this time. Poly Bug sent us a link to CIROS, a Korean humanoid robot who slices cucumbers and tosses salads. Franke Tobe of the Robot Report let us know about a new article he's posted about Eldercare Robots. And The Swirling Brain spotted an article describing a new method proposed by physicists that may finally settle the question of whether or not our reality is just a computer simulation. Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please. Don't forget to follow us on twitter and Facebook. And now you can add us to your Google+ circles too.